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Rhode Island Department of Education
Lesson Plan

Lesson Title:

Survival of the Fittest

State Standards: GLEs/GSEs

LS4- Humans are similar to other species in many ways, and yet are unique among Earth's life forms.

7c citing evidence of how natural selection and its evolutionary consequences provide a scientific explanation for the diversity and unity of past and present life forms on Earth. ">(e.g. Galapagos Islands, Hawaiian Islands, Australia, geographic isolation, adaptive radiation).

LS4- Humans are similar to other species in many ways, and yet are unique among Earth's life forms.

9b providing an explanation of how the human species impacts the environment and other organisms (e.g. reducing the amount of the earth’s surface available to those other species, interfering with their food sources, changing the temperature and chemical composition of their habitats, introducing foreign species into their ecosystems, and altering organisms directly through selective breeding and genetic engineering).

National Standards:

Standard C life science-
LS3- biological evolution
LS5- behavior of organisms
Standard G history and nature of science-
G3- knowledge of historical perspectives

Context of Lesson:

This lesson will be an in depth discussion of Darwin's theory of "survival of the fittest". Students will have a group activity to demonstrate how some species and even individual organisms are able to prevail over others in the same habitat because of the traits they have that make them more "fit" for that environment. The main ideas students will be going over are inheritance of traits, adaptations, and competition.
Vocabulary: (old and new)
-habiat
-adaptation
-genetic drift
-population
-mutation
-competitive selection
-limited resources
-fitness

Opportunities to Learn:

Depth of Knowledge

DOK-level 3: pulling ideas and making connections from previous lessons to explain why particular organisms thrive in their habitats

Prerequisite Knowledge

-natural selection allows organisms with specific adaptations to fill a niche
-the example of the Galapagos finches
-

Plans for Differentiating Instruction

The intro activity should stimulate the visual learners because it requires making connections based on the images on the handout. Group discussion and class discussion should engage those who process information better through listening and acting upon their thoughts.

Accommodations and modifications

Unknown for these class periods

Environmental factors

The classroom is set up with 12 two-seated tables evenly spaced within lab benches that project from the walls. The front of the room has a white board and large desk with a computer for teacher use and student use when permitted. There is a projector in front of the desk which allows for many opportunities to display notes, diagrams, pictures, etc. For purposes in this lesson, students can use the desks or lab areas during group activity. The class will be expected to use indoor voices and display mature behavior for a lab setting.

Objectives:

After completion of this lesson, students will:
1) Explain how natural selection is known as survival of the fittest
2) Compare an organism's "fittness" to its inheritance and adaptability for the environment in which it lives
3) Demonstrate how one organism can "outcompete" another in the same habitat through attainability of resources, reproductive capability, etc.

Instruction:

Opening:

Matching activity with pictures of organisms pulled out of their environment. Students will draw lines to connect they organism with the habitat in which they think the organism will do best. Discuss choices students made and why. Ask what students think would happen if that organism were placed in a different habitat then introduce the idea of survival of the fittest.

Engagement:

Ask question about how organisms survive in their different habitats and what might make some organisms thrive in these habitats while others don't. Put up a projection that lists different ways that one organism can compete with another living in the same habitat. Explain activity.
Activity:
Split students into groups of four
Each group gets 2 species, 2 traits for each species and 1 habitat
Students must decide in their group:

Which species would suvive best in this habitat and explain why
Explain what would happen to each species in this environment
If the environment proved unsuitable for either species what might a better one be
What adaptations could the organism develop that would make the environment a suitable habitat

Closure:

Discuss as a class the questions each group answered and why they made their choices. . Answer any questions and misconceptions about adaptations, competition, and inheritance. Brief introduction of next lesson: Competition and co-existence

Assessment:

Collect the group activity and grade it based on effort that was observed in class and quality of answer.
Personal assessment: Were the groups successful in explaining their decision? Were their answers logical? Did the grouping work well?
(Use this as the one, two punch and determine whether students will be able to have success with a group project in creating a hypothetical situation of evolution using atleast one of the evidences we have studied...if students have actually learned a lot they will find that the more evidences they use the stronger their argument and the easier their explanation will be for why they believe this situation is plausible.

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